The Game
After a big win in the season-opener against Truman State, the Oilers stay on the road for another non-conference affair. This time, the Orange and Black head north to take on old GLIAC foe Wayne State University which calls Detroit, Michigan its' home. Kickoff is set for 1:00 pm on Saturday, Sep. 14.

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Tickets
Tickets for Findlay at Wayne State

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Video streaming of the contest will be produced by Truman State and streamed on the GLVC Sports Network and is made available via pay-per-view.
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Findlay Oilers (1-0, 0-0 G-MAC)
2024 Findlay Football Coaching Staff

Entering the 2024 seasons, there were some questions surrounding this version of the Findlay Oilers squad due to a myriad of new faces within the program. Those questions are starting to be answered after UF went on the road and put up a resounding 37-21 victory against the Truman State Bulldogs.

Quarterback Matthew Reuve, making his first start for the Orange and Black, completed his first three passes of the year and went on to complete 14 of his first 17 attempts through the air. Rueve would finish with 318 yards and two touchdowns, making him the first QB at Findlay since Rhys Gervais (2015), the program's all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns, to throw for more than 300 yards and two scores in his Oilers' debut.

At running back, Jayden Farmer was stout, rushing for 82 yards and a score while, on the outside, senior Cam Childers proved to be one of the top targets in the G-MAC, catching seven balls for 150 yards, the most receiving yards by any player in the league in the opening week.

While the offense was impressive, the defensive effort by Findlay may have been more impressive. When the team needed it most, the Oilers' made stops, most notably of which came on the opening drive of the second half. UF was leading 21-7 and Truman, which received the ball to start the half, was driving into Findlay territory, reaching the 23-yardline. Sophomore Joel Kpassou then ripped the ball from TSU's ball carrier and raced 79 yards for a touchdown, turning a potential seven-point lead into a 21-point lead.

Also new to the program, Christion Stokes, who was named the G-MAC Defensive Player of the Week, led the team with 13 tackles including a pair of pass breakups. Gavin DeGroat and Sam Weihrauch combined for 15 tackles from their linebacker positions while junior Adonai Bumba made three tackles and had the lone interception of the day for the Oilers.

All-in-all, it was a solid opening-season victory that is a starting point for what is a very long season on the gridiron. Findlay hopes to take the momentum of that win and carry it into what will unquestionably be another quality opponent in the Wayne State Warriors.

 
About the Opponent – Wayne State Warriors (0-1, 0-0 GLIAC)
Despite a loss in Week 1 and just six wins in the 2020's as a whole, the Wayne State Warriors are not a team to look past. Just more than a decade ago in the 2011 season, the proud program made a trip to the NCAA DII National Championship game where they were defeated by Pittsburg State. However, just two years later, the program won only three games and was back in rebuild mode. That rise and fall was the story in Detroit while the Warriors were under then head coach Paul Winters, who finished with a sub-.500 record in 18 seasons at WSU.

Wayne State is now under the leadership of Tyrone Wheatley, and is looking for the former University of Michigan star and NFL veteran to lead this team back to national relevance. Wheatley has coaching experience at all three NCAA divisions, including DI Eastern Michigan, Syracuse, Michigan, and Morgan State. He also has spent time in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Denver Broncos as a running backs coach.

2024 is a tough road for WSU as the Warriors boast a top-25 strength of schedule, the second-toughest in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). Both Tiffin and Findlay are receiving votes in the top-25 national poll. Next up is nationally ranked Indianapolis and then a road game at Truman State, a team that will likely contend for a GLVC title this season. Then it's into the always challenging GLIAC schedule.

The start of the 2024 campaign was not kind to the Warriors who went on the road and suffered a 31-17 defeat at Tiffin University last week, although the game was not as close as it appeared thanks to 14 points in the final ten minutes for WSU. In that contest, the Warriors struggled on the ground, netting just 38 yards of rushing on 31 carries. In total, the green and gold managed 176 yards of total offense and turned the ball over five times.

Leading the offense is redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Cox who is getting his first taste as the full-time starting QB for the Warriors. In his season-opener, Cox threw for 140 yards and two scores, but did throw a pair of interceptions while completing only 15-of-25.

His favorite target was D'Marco Singleton who had five receptions for 37 yards and a score. Nick Ostas had two receptions for 30 yards while Myles McKatherine had three catches for 25 yards.

On the ground, where the Warriors struggled, Singleton ran for just 24 yards on four attempts. In his career, the Marysville, Michigan native has 67 attempts for 237 yards and just one touchdown. Cox, in just four games played, has 52 rushing attempts for 58 yards.

In his Wayne State debut, linebacker Kaleb Coleman led the team last week with nine tackles including 1.5 tackles-for-loss. He also forced a fumble. Fellow linebacker Carl Ware had six stops and led the team with 2.0 tackles-for-loss, both of which were sacks.

Wayne State is going to face a gauntlet of competition early in the season, but that will only make this squad tougher as the season goes on. Against the Oilers, the team, playing in its' first home game of the season, will look to draw on the energy of a supportive crowd and will draw on experiences from a tough Week 1 loss. If they can put it all together, Saturday will undoubtedly be a close, physical contest.

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